


Chakotay's Turn

by AnnieMacDonald



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Dialogue-Only, F/M, Insomnia, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-08
Updated: 2012-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-29 04:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnieMacDonald/pseuds/AnnieMacDonald
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dogwatch. And you told me I was a bad dog.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chakotay's Turn

Be, if it's a warp core function problem go huddle in a corner with Carey, his soul was twinned with one. I don't speak their language. If it's a resources problem, tell the Captain at noon briefing... or tell me now... yeah... Right now if I could get another 1000 calories a day energy into our passengers and rep them some basic kit I would be a happier exec. Just tell me how, Be. Technical terms of one syllable only... yeah... but we already have automatic powersaving... and how much more sensitive will our Delta-model revised systems make it?... Please say three per cent again very slowly, and then I'll smile. You do mean three per cent of total power overall? What do you need? Who do you need? No, I'll tell Seven you want her here, now. When did you get the idea? ... OK, then I won't ask if it's fully developed yet. Just do it in as short order as is possible... Have you been in the bay?... Yeah... not much left of a world, is it? All packed in tight. And the kids are so listless... I'll send down Mulholland to analyse that nesting stuff they use, second priority after food. Tell Carey he isn't off-duty any more, he's on core until you crack this one. I'm authorising it... I'm 100 per cent certain Captain will agree...

No, Seven, to engineering now. One, that's an order from the Captain, and two our chief engineer requested you and nobody else... saw what you did recalibrating tolerances with Mr Kim... We're inside the resources margin by about 001 of a degree which wouldn't be enough even if this were safe space... no, it won't be efficient to create extra resources for our refugees, but it matters, just do it... But all species are unique... so tell me, did the Borg ever assimilate two exactly duplicated species?... If you resort to Borg justifications, I'll ask such questions... Yes I know how utilitarian the universe is. I'm as awed by Borg ruthlessness as anyone else who was anywhere near Wolf 359. But you still sound like a child saying my father can beat yours...Go and help Lt Torres speak to this ship... Good, then make it a point of Borg efficiency to get us one per cent extra beyond the three Lt. Torres thinks she can deliver.

Don't ask me, Doc. Chief engineer thinks she can get the resources online by ensign-down, she's communicating with Seven as well as the ship. Enough of a miracle for one day... we've allotted the energy to the refugees for now, but I don't know what we turn it into. They had nothing but that mush, and that's what we've repped so far, though not enough. But it isn't doing the young much good... They don't seem scared of sickbay; Captain asks could you scan the body chemistry and check nutrition? I'd say get up one of adults with a baby. They're so bright they'll work out in a minute what you're trying to do -- no, the translators are still only managing about one thought in three... it's always that way with a language where the allusions don't have any equivalents... keep it simple, Doc. Food, more, better, for children: that should do it... ask Suzuki, she's been trying to play with the kids, they're too weak but she has some communication going...Fastest possible, Doc. We could hit shooting trouble any time now... Pointless ordering the Captain to rest, Doc, but threaten to take her off duty if she doesn't eat, will you? She's done 48 hours straight on coffee and willpower trying to plot a course into their system with no damn charts...nah, she won't listen to either of us, but try anyway...

Neelix, you're the expert. We'll have the resources by tonight and Doc will have a breakdown of their nutrient requirements. Big gap between theory and practice, though. Between replicator and mouth. Don't know if they like that glop we've been giving them, or whether that was all there was in the holding camp. Maybe it was that or starvation... No, my culture can understand sweet, salty, sour, bland and hot -- and carbonised, that's important. About our limit -- you can make some complex combos. But the kids may want something different, simpler, in taste than the adults... You could try them with mouthfulls of anything in the galley for a start, if they spit it out you're on the wrong track ...Great idea, get Nu in, make a game of it, anything to animate them... And when we've delivered them, we should have a fraction more to play with regularly. Most will go to drive-power. Captain and I want it for hydroponics, no instant fixes... it's good for the soul to see things grow slowly, as Kes used to say... but we'll put this one to conference...maybe spare a unit a day extra for everyone to boost morale...No, the replicator never gets it right for me. It can get near the ingredients but never the combos. And every being needs to add their own little rituals of creation...

If you could come down to the cargo bay, Mr Tuvok. Leader of our passengers has been trying to convey something about shield harmonics, but I'm not getting words, just images like a hologram in the head... can't hold on to them long enough to make sense... He's telepathic, sure enough... he can communicate with you, but he has to do it face to face. Think he can feel shield weaknesses like animals sensing barometric pressure. The word danger is coming over clear. Yeah, he's understood about the food and resources -- the Doctor has scanned, as soon as Lt Torres can give us the energy we can at least make up formula for the babies... What he's trying to put over is urgent, it's as if he's only just felt it. Thanks... I'll relieve you. Any sign? The Captain still certain they've come after us? No, I don't disagree with her -- my instinct is that they'll try well before we make planetfall, too --it'll be their last chance...but our returnee here may be more exact...

Be says she thought of it after we retuned everything but wasn't sure enough of changes in gel-pack capacity to suggest it until things were so tight it was worth trying as a possibility... Tom, she may need to take risks, but privately. She hates to look a fool... no, I'm wrong -- she took a public chance on you...I'm not sure whether the Captain is more pleased at the potential energy right now or that it was Be that thought this one up... Slow astern -- there, see, our sensitive friends were right, discords there and there... ahead... look at that... Captain? we're putting the harmonics readings from manoeuvring on all security screens -- Tuvok's team should have enough to start on... will he take it personally that the shields are temporarily beyond logic?... How do you want to balance power allocation?... Be says another two hours for trials, we might have unexpected shut-downs while the neural network adapts...OK, I'll play it by feel... how are the projections for planetfall?... Of course I believe you'll get us in there, it'll just be real badlands flying...I'd follow you anywhere. I have. Mr Paris, turn that smug look off... Mr Kim -- do not let the Captain work one more minute without food: safety protocol for the ship and you can tell her the Doctor said so.

Dogwatch... You're awake? Ah, you've hurt my pride. I was just bragging to myself that you sleep soundly six hours after. No, you don't snore. Sigh, yes. The first time a burst of commands in what sounded like Vulcan. And you told me I was a bad dog. Yes, you did, Kathryn. Me awake? My nights are usually uninterrupted, I know yours aren't, so I like to enjoy your sleep when I have the chance. Like I said, pride. Like yours about cracking access to our refugees' planet... So what's spoilt my pleasure? Cramp? Caffeine lack?... Yeah, I'll have one: squander my extra unit, bless our Be... I changed the program, it's the second request... sugar on the locker... I'll give it up when you sit down to eat a square meal, deal? Come here and relax anyway... Specific worry or mother-henning?... I feel better than yesterday, we can build up their strength some before we get 'em home, I thought we might lose the kids, they are so frail... Neelix just kept repping samples of tastes until he found something they liked so much they licked the spoon clean... Mulholland tell you the nesting stuff is close to down? They pack it round them to stabilise body temperature... here, let me stabilise yours... with Seven's extra-extra one per cent, we can rep them some essentials... Yep, I am happy. Happier. It's nothing in the universe, it's one hundred and twelve lives spared when hundreds of thousands of their world have gone, but they have their oral culture and their traditions and a chance to get back home and rebuild... No, ma'am, that was not a speech. You feel the same, because I saw your face when you said you would give them safe passage from that nightmare "come hell or high water"... I would have done it to spite that bastard too, but that wasn't why you volunteered Voyager to take 'em... oh, when we have a little more to spare, we owe the shuttle repair team a meal... we as in you and I: Kaminski has fixed a plaque in Sacajawea naming Captain and First Officer as the first of many to pancake her... I swore you would unveil it and we would stand the team a celebration... yeah, he hasn't been in trouble since we picked them up. It's the infants. They give everybody a focus, somebody helpless to help. No, I don't need somebody helpless, I need you, my love. When I can get you without interruption, which isn't often enough... I'm not complaining, it's better than the first four years --ow, your elbows are sharp. You wriggle like a lizard when you laugh, Kathryn...

Yeah, but duty isn't calling for another hour. Tuvok owns dog-watch, he'll be running security checks on the perfect ship-shape vessel until you arrive on the bridge and start improvising. So, we have 48 hours before the shooting starts if our passengers are right... Still awake? Then let's not waste any of the time we never have enough of together...


End file.
